Kia ora, Nameste, Talofa, Konnichiwa, Guten Tag, Gidday, Vannakkam, ni Hao, Kia orana, Hola, Salam, Sa wat deekha, Dia Dhuit, Goeie Dag, Bonjour, Καλημέρα, Mālō e lelei, Greetings everyone
Despite staffing remaining a challenge in this time of winter chills and sickness (at time of writing one quarter of our team are unwell and 20% of our students) there are lots of positive learning experiences and school improvements taking place around our kura. We have been blessed with community members stepping in wherever they can to support. This makes a huge difference to morale and therefore the learning environment our children experience. Thank you.
Road Patrol continues to be one of the key areas in which having extra adults to supervise in an ongoing way would mean our teachers and leaders were not so stretched. If you are able to assist with this, please get in touch with Nadine Dechapunya nadine@bellevue-newlands.school.nz
Learning
I have been fortunate to have been in a few classrooms recently, seeing great learning in action, and I find myself reflecting on the ‘new’ approaches currently being voraciously reported (and hotly debated) in the media.
At Bellevue, phonics (teaching the correlation of sounds with letters and letter groups) is explicitly taught across our age groups - and it has been for some time. Writing and mathematics practice happens daily; both for a sustained, focused period and integrated through learning experiences that utilise students' interests, backgrounds and cultures as a platform for engaging learning. Handwriting practice is a regular part of classroom routines. Students are assessed both formally (summatively) at least twice a year, and informally (or formatively - the method that we know has the most impact on teaching and learning) in an ongoing way that informs both student and teachers next steps.
Last year, we had more than thirty students arrive who are learning English as their second language. These students now make up 30% of our school roll and the team are working hard, adapting their teaching programmes to provide the best learning experiences for these students, upskilling along the way.
Alongside this academic focus, and very importantly for a balanced curriculum, our student led pedagogies; learning through play, self directed projects and student led leadership provide a multitude of opportunities for the application of skills and strategies in highly engaging contexts which foster critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, communication and problem solving.
Recognising that the best learning is multifaceted, holistic and child-centered - and that each child is an individual - any ‘new’ approaches presented as ‘quick fixes,’ that will attend to the needs of everyone in one fell swoop, risk narrowing the curriculum and should be considered with caution.
At Bellevue we continue to consider effective pedagogies alongside neuroscience (how the brain learns) and cognitive psychology (the importance of mindset and how we think) to design learning that attends to the needs, interests and passions of the students we have the privilege of working with.
Some examples of this from the last week:
Peer mediators daily solving problems in the playground and around the school.
Kapa Haka led by Tessa Finnigan and Whaea Jayjay leading the wonderful Term 2 Pōwhiri we held last Thursday to welcome our new students and staff. Especially special as we welcome Whaea’s own youngest child to our kura.
Students from Hub 5 working with Megan Walters on storyboarding, character development and scriptwriting for our end of Term 3 production.
Hub 3 students writing about a fictional character - a Chinese gentleman - using information shared by the students with Chinese heritage in their class.
Student voice being collected to inform refreshed playground markings.
A wonderful opportunity to listen to one of our newer students for whom English is a second language who has shifted 11 reading levels since his arrival at the end of 2023!
Our heritage language group, run by Deeann, continues to provide opportunities for those who speak Mandarin and Sinhala to connect and speak in their first language.
The Rocket Room and junior hub, despite working around a building project in Room 5 and 6, continue to offer a settled, supportive transition to school with a focus on developing oral language, collaboration and learner mindset.
Explicit teaching of grammar, within the context of how to write a report at Level 3 of the curriculum; sentence structure, punctuation, varied sentence beginnings, lead sentences.
Matariki preparations are well underway with tamariki engaged in learning about the whetū (stars) that is cultural, astronomical and creative.
Year 6 students designing their own classroom plans and creating games that could be used in a carnival day.
Matariki Community Evening
Please join us next Wednesday evening for what is always a wonderful evening to connect, celebrate, reflect on the past and look to our future with our community.
Bellevue Mural - Now Complete!
Last year as part of our Tūrangawaewae (standing place) learning focus, our Hub 4 students gathered student voice about what made Bellevue special. They discussed the things that they thought reflected our school locality and community, feeding all of this information to a mural artist, Preehya Patel, who used this to inspire a beautiful mural for our administration office that will greet you when you enter the school. Their aim was to improve ‘their place’ with images and information that reflected ‘their place’ which could be enjoyed by students now and into the future.
It is not quite complete as there are QR codes to come that link to students talking about our kura (school), but do please pop in and take a look - or enjoy the photo below!
Whānau Hui
Thanks to those families who attended our hui for Māori Whānau last night. It was good to connect after a few busy terms interrupted this. For those who could not attend the slides from the evening are now up on our website and linked HERE for your information.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you wish to know more or get involved, otherwise we hope to see you at our next one.
Last Chance to Share Your Thoughts on Health & PE At Bellevue
We would also like to draw your attention to our Biannual Health & PE consultation survey later in the newsletter. Thank you to the 9/240+ families who have completed this to let us know their thoughts. Luckily there is still time! You have until 4pm Friday this week to participate in the survey and go in to win a $50 grocery voucher.
Reporting Trial Update
We are in the final two weeks of our six month trial of new reporting processes that we hope work better for our whānau. Please note the table included at the end of this section (taken from Tāhurangi - the Ministry of Education’s new portal for curriculum content) which helps to outline the difference between more traditional ways of reporting and information sharing that research shows informs learning. Once you have participated in your child’s Three Way Conference in the final week of the term, we invite you to give us your feedback on our new reporting processes. This includes the Seesaw learning stories, curriculum posts and three way conferences using the Bellevue Poutama to show your child’s progress against the curriculum.
Please note that, so we can use your feedback to inform our approach to the second half of the year, there will be a very quick turnaround on this feedback. Paper forms for feedback will be given out at the Three Way Conferences. Please return these to the office or your child’s whānau teacher before the end of the term. A link to the digital form (the same form) will be included in the final newsletter of the term with a week to complete it.
Reminders
Three Way Conferences (2 & 3 July) - To book a time to speak with your child’s teacher between 3.15pm - 8pm on Tuesday 2 July or 3.15pm and 6.30pm on Wednesday 3 July please follow this link to School Interviews look for the ‘Make a Booking’ button top right, and enter the code vm95x.
Parking - We have regular comments made regarding parking in our streets by both neighbours and our kindergarten at the moment. Please, please go slowly and park considerately in our neighbouring streets for the safety of everyone.
Swimming Sports - As outlined in our 20 March newsletter, there will be no Northern Zone Swimming Sports this year. This will not affect our Term 4 annual swimming lessons for all students.
2023 Annual Reports now available online - Last year's Annual Report (Analysis of Variance) and financial statement have been published on the school website. The report contains information about last year's annual goals and the school's end of year financial position. Please go to the Board page of our website to view these if you are interested.
Ngā mihi nui
Annette
Remember to take a look at the Bellevue Website for longer term information (Parent Portal) or follow our closed group Facebook Page for quick updates or reminders.
